


A punishing man

by Lokomotiv



Category: Reign (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-13
Updated: 2016-03-13
Packaged: 2018-05-26 13:10:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6240577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lokomotiv/pseuds/Lokomotiv
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bash was rarely punished. Instead, he played games. Or rather, his father the king played games, and Bash learned very early in life to play along.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Set during the first season.
> 
> Warnings for physical abuse and incest/rape/non-con (no graphic descriptions) in the second chapter, as well as emotional/psychological abuse throughout. Seriously, Bash does not have a healthy relationship with his father in this story.

> _“Is he a punishing man?"  
>  …  
>  "He’s not punishing you, he’s playing you. He likes to play and he likes to win. But, know this about him: a victory without effort is worse than a defeat.” _
> 
> Lady Kenna and Bash (Kissed, S01E03) 

Bash was rarely punished. He could remember a few times when, as a child, he’d been put over someone’s knee or sent to bed without supper, and once or twice he’d earned a beating during adolescence. He’d come to understand that those times were few and far between compared to others his age, even Francis, the heir. And if he remembered correctly, those punishments were always insisted upon by somebody other than the king. (The queen, most often.) The king allowed them, of course, but they were never his idea.

So, Bash was rarely punished. Instead, he played games. Or rather, his father the king played games, and Bash learned very early in life to play along. It took him a little longer to realise that his best strategy was to figure out not only how to win a game, but _when_ to win, and importantly, when to let the king win. It had hurt when he realised that mastering a game, consistently besting his father, did not earn him the same pride and affection as an occasional win. When he finally understood that the games were not even a little for his own benefit, but for the amusement of the king and the king only, Bash quickly learned to balance his victories against his fathers’, and found his life suddenly much less chaotic, as the king no longer saw the need to constantly change the rules on him without warning. He was still the king’s plaything, his entire life a string of games, one after another, played for his king’s entertainment - but he knew the rules for the most part, and could to some extent influence the outcome. He didn’t know anymore if it had come to him as a realisation or a decision, but he knew that this was his purpose in life, his most important duty. To be amusing enough, providing enough of a challenge without being a real threat, for his father’s attention not to drift elsewhere. Specifically, to keep it off of Francis and his other little brothers.


	2. Chapter 2

Bash knows when it’s time to lose, and what the consequences are in each of the games they play. As much as he’d sometimes like to fight back until the bitter end, he is well aware of what his duty entails. So he’s “distracted” when he spars with his father, ending up black and blue and sore to the bone. Or his arrow accidentally-on-purpose doesn’t find its target during a hunt, and he watches the other men share the bounty as his stomach cramps after a second day without a meal. His father’s temper mellows, and the court can relax somewhat, for a little while. When Diane is away, Bash knows to admit, with not entirely feigned embarrassment, that he was spurned by whatever lady he’d set his eyes upon, and endure the king’s very loud and very public monologue on the topic of the bastard’s lack of seductive skills, or the rumoured size of his member, or whatever humiliation he thinks up this time. When the king’s taste for a male body starts to make itself known through lingering glances and brief touches, Bash will drink the wine his father gives him even though he knows it is drugged. Every once in a while he will avoid the chalice that he knows is meant for him, to make the win more of a challenge for the king (or so he tells himself), but not every time and never more than twice in a row. The third time he will drink it, always, and wake up tied to the king’s bed, blindfolded and dizzy, with his father making use of his body in ways not even a king can get away with with anyone other than the bastard. The king will be in a good mood for days, sometimes weeks, after such a victory.

But mostly Bash’s balancing act consists of knowing when to provide his father with an opportunity to slap him down, verbally, literally or metaphorically. Sometimes he ends up in the dungeons for a night or two, having pushed too hard, but for the most part there is safety in that the king enjoys having him around. Though this is definitely the game that will kill him someday, of this he has no doubt. Constantly testing the limits of a king’s temper, pulling at the bit, pushing, always pushing until the king pushes back - that is a death sentence just waiting to happen. But Bash likes to think that you don’t have to be a true noble to have a sense of honour, to be ready to give your life for something bigger than yourself or for someone you love. So he will play the games his king sets up for him, knowing how it will end, though in his case it may well be a long, unpredictable road to the final sacrifice. He will do it for Francis his brother and for France his country, for they are in so many things one and the same, and even when they are not, he loves them both. He will keep playing. To be honest he’s not sure he even knows how to do anything else anymore.


End file.
